As a big Gears of war fan, when I saw Anya Stroud finally geared up as a COG soldier in the third installment of the game, I became very interested in trying to replicate her armor. The costume took about 6 months to build. Using detailed character model images and NECA's Anya Stroud action figure as reference, I created detailed pattern templates which I transferred on to EVA foam. I molded the foam pieces using a heat gun, and carved textures out with a dremel tool. Each piece was coated in plasti-dip before spray painting and adding more details with acrylic paint. The right arm guard, shoulder straps, and back "shell" have blue LEDs wired into them, all of which are powered by two 9 volt batteries - one for the back and shoulder connections, and one for the arm guard. Some other fun odds and ends that went into the costume were LOTS varied nuts bolts and screws, door hinges, rubber place mat material, thin sheet metal, and wire holders. And the Lancer of course, which is an accurate Gears of war replica made by NECA. Aside from some of the mishaps with the LED functionality when I wore it at New York Comic con, I feel that this has been a huge success for my first armor build.